The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for thermal transfer recording to be used in a video printer or the like, for example. Particularly, the present invention is concerned with a method and apparatus for thermal transfer recording using an ink paper cassette which contains, a band-like ink paper, and which can change over from one operation mode to another according to the type of ink paper used.
As a method and apparatus for printing characters or pictures by thermal transfer recording using an ink paper cartridge with ink applied thereto, there are known those wherein the ink paper cartridge is provided with a shape discriminator or an optical discriminator to determine the type of the ink paper cartridge used, and control is effected, for example, to increase the amount of heat energy to be imparted to the ink in the case of using a sublimation dye ink as compared with the case where a wax-type ink is used, while taking into consideration the kind of ink such as wax-type or sublimation dye ink, the number of ink colors, or the order of ink colors, to obtain a desired print density or gradation characteristic. In this connection, reference is made, for example, to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 61-274971 and 61-274978.